What's biting in Islamorada, month by month.

Winter (roughly December through April) belongs to the edge: sailfish tailing down the reef after cold fronts, smoker kingfish crashing live baits, and comfortable, cool days offshore. This is the classic Islamorada season that fills the docks.

Spring into summer is the color run. Mahi pour through on the weed lines from late spring, wahoo peak around the cooler-month moons on either side of it, and the spring spawn brings the famous mutton snapper bite. Flat summer mornings are also prime for running far and comfortable.

Year-round, no asterisks: blackfin tuna on the humps and swordfish in the deep. The humps stack tuna every month of the calendar, and the overnight swordfish program runs whenever the weather window opens. Yellowtail snapper hold on the reef in every season.

Summer nights bring the big animals out: bull sharks at their heaviest May through October, lemons in the warm months, and hammerheads in the spring and fall shoulder windows on the evening shark trips.

The honest answer to 'when should we come?'

Come when you can. Tell the captain the month and he will tell you the hunt. That is how a fleet with four boats and a year-round calendar actually works.